Fiee escape



2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

B. M. YORKS.

FIRE ESCAPE.

Patented Mar. 31, 1891;

in TTOHNE rs UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

ROBERT BLYORKS, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

Fl RE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,458, dated March 31, 1891. Application filed October 22, 1890. Serial No. 368,890. No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT M. YORKS, of St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and Improved Fire-Escape, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in fire-escapes; and the object of my invention is to provide a convenient fire-escape which may be easily applied to a building of any height, which may be collapsed so as to occupy but little space, and can therefore be easily stowed away within a room, and which may be permanently attached to the wall of a building, if desired.

A further object of the invention is to combine with the fire-escape a practical household article, so that when a portion of the fire-escape is suspended within a room the said article may be attached and will form a convenient means of suspending clothing, hats, brushes, &c.

To this end my invention consists in a collapsible ladder made up in sections, means for suspending and collapsing the ladder, as shown, and a cross-baradapted to be attached to the ladder when it is within the room, the cross-bar having wardrobe and hat hooks thereon, and also having a suitable brushholder. This construction will be hereinafter fully described, and then pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of one section of the ladder and of the window-bar by which it is suspended from the building, the ladder being shown in a collapsed position. Fig. 2 is a broken detail sectional view showing the manner in which the fire eseape is suspended from the window. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the lower section of the ladder. Fig. at is a broken detail front view of one of the ladder-rungs and the brace to hold the ladder from the building. Fig. 5 is an end view of the same, the wall of the building being shown in section; and Fig. 6 is a front elevation showing two sections of the ladder attached permanently to the wall of a building, the ladders being shown in an extended position.

The ladder ismade up in a series of sections, as shown, so that it may be easily adapted to the height of any building, the sections being adapted to be hooked together in a manner hereinafter described. The section A (shown in Fig. 1) is best adapted to be attached to or suspended from a window, the said sec tion having its two upper rungs a and ct held in a fixed position a desired distance apart by means of the rods B, connecting the two at each end, and the remaining rungs a are graduated, each rung being made somewhat longer than the rung immediately above it, and the ends of all of the rungs are provided with suitable ferrules a if the rungs are made of wood; but if the rungs are made of metal the ferrules are not needed. Each rung a has four holes through it, there being two at each end, and extending through the inner holes are rods B, which are preferably screwed into perforations in the rung-ferrules and provided at their lower ends with nuts, the rods extending upward through the outer holes in the rung above, which holes are preferably close to the ends of the rung.

The rods B correspond in length to an ordinary step of a ladder, and the upper ends of the rods are doubled over, as shown at Z), to form stops which prevent the rods from dropping through the rungs. A portion of the rungs have at the back eyes or keepers a which serve as guides for the ropes D, which extend upward through the keepers and at the upper rung diverge, the ropes extending through end eyes a on the ends of the upper rung a, and the ends of the rope being then carried downward and attached to suitable staples (0 which are placed in or near opposite ends of the lower ladder-rungs. The lower ends of the rope are attached to a suitable reel D, so that they may be easily manipulated.

The rods 13, attached to the lower rung, extend upwardly through the rung above and are provided with hooks C, which may be hooked into the eyes 0 on the upper rung a or into the eyes 7L3 on the window-bar II, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. The upper rung a has sleeves E mounted thereon, the sleeves being provided with inwardly-extending arms E, which are adapted to bear against the wall of a building F, as shown in IOC Fig. 2, and thus hold the ladder a convenient distance from the building. The sleeves E are connected by a bentv rod 0, and they are held in a fixed position upon the ladder-rung by means of a suitable thumb-screw e. I have shown this arrangement for holding the ladder from the building attached to the upper rung of the section A; but it is obvious that the brace thus formed may be attached to any desired number of rungs, and where a fireescape is kept for individual use the distance between the windows may be easily found and the braces attached in such a manner that when the ladder is suspended they will not come opposite the windows.

- The rodsB, which connect the rungs a and a, extend through the upper rung a, and are formed into hooks or keepers l), to which are attached chains G, the opposite ends of the chains being attached to suitable staples g on the window-bar H.

The window-bar H is adapted to extend across from side to side of a window-frame 011 the inside of a building, and thus hold the fire-escape in place. It is provided. with the sleeves H, through which the staples g extend, and depending from the bar opposite the sleeves are pins h, which when the ladder is collapsed, as shown in Fig. 1, are inserted in corresponding holes in the upper rung a of the ladder. The window-bar is provided with suitable chains H having hooks thereon, by means of which it may be firmly fastened to any convenient article, and on the front side of the bar is a projecting handle Hflwhich serves to assist a person in climbing from awindow onto a ladder beneath. .The window bar has screw-eyes hon its upper side near the ends, by means of which it may be hung against the wall of a room,and on the sides are screweyes 71 to which a light fibrous rope K or a wire rope K may be attached when the ladder is to be raised from the ground, the ropes being provided with suitable hooks It, to which a section of the ladder may be attached, if desired. These ropes are not an essential part of the fire-escape proper; but they may be used in this way: If a person in a room of abuildingfinds the building on fire and means of escape out off, he may lower a light string to the ground and the people beneath may attach one of the light ropes K or K to the string, so that one end of a rope maybe raised to the window, and the ropes should be long enough so that the weight of the ladder will not bear upon them until they are raised to the window above. The person in the room may then draw in the rope to which the ladder has been previously attached, thus rais ing the ladder, and the window-bar and ladder may then be adjusted in the window. The ropes K and K are light enough to be easily raised and strong enough to easily sustain the weight of the ladder.

The lower rung of the section A is provided with screw-eyes a, to which the sections beneath may be hooked. \Vhen the fire-escape is kept in a room of a building, the section A (shown in Fig. 1) may be suspended from the wall and the other sections stowed in a convenient place, and a cross bar J is attached to the lower rung of the section A by the hooks J, the said cross-bar having hat-hooks j, wardrobe-hooks j, and a brush-holder arranged thereon, and when the fire-escape is used this cross-bar is removed.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a section which is adapted to form the lower end of the ladder, the section L being in principle like the section A already described, but instead of the rungs a being graduated in one direction only the two middle rungs a are the longest and the remaining rungs are graduated both ways from the center. The two upper rungs of the section L are permanently connected together, like the rungs a and a already described, and the upper rung, instead of having a chain connecting it with the windowbar, is provided with hooks E by means of which it may be hooked to the section above. The section is provided with ropes D, by means of which it may be collapsed, and each of the center rungs a has the supportingrods B fixed to the ends, the rods having two rungs pointing in opposite directions, and those of one rung extending through suitable holes in the-next. The lower rung of the section L has hooks M pivoted thereto, said hooks being sufficiently long to extend to the upper rung of the section and to engage staples on the rung, as shown in Fig. 3, so-as to hold the rungs together when the section is collapsed.

If a window is only a short distance above the ground, it will only be necessary to use the section A, and if it is somewhat higher the-two sections Aand L are all that are necessary; but in a very high building additional sectionssueh as N (shown in Fig. 6)- may be interposed between the sections A and L, the sections being hooked together, as shown, and any desired number of the sections may be used to give the necessary length to the ladder. The section N is sub stantially like the section A; but in Fig.6 I have shown it in an inverted position, and any of the sections may be inverted, if desired, as when the ropes D are released and the rungs unhooked their weight will cause them to drop into position whichever end is up.

In Fig. 6 I have shown the means for attaching the fire-escape permanently to a building, and for this purpose a cross-bar P has its ends confined in plates P, which are securely fixed to the wall of the building, being preferably located in such a position that the ladder suspended from the bar will be between two rows of windows, so that they may be conveniently reached from either. The cross-bar P has a short ladderQ, which is preferably of metal suspended therefrom, and

the lower ends of the side rails of the ladder Q are bolted to one rung of a section A or L of the fire-escape. The ladder when in this position is provided with collapsible ropes, as already described, and when not in use it is collapsed and held suspended against the upper portion of the building-wall.

The rungs of the various sections may be provided with a convenient number of keepers near the ends, which serve as guides for the rope D, and where the rungs are made of wood it is desirable to pass wires through them near the ends, as indicated by dotted lines in the upper rungs of the section A, the wires serving to strengthen the rungs. lVhen the fire-escape is to be used, the window-bar H is adjusted so as to extend across the window-frame, the lower section of the ladder is lowered from the window, and its upper end hooked to the section to be lowered next, and so on, the desired number of sections being used, and the upper section is hooked to the window-bar in the manner already described, and the occupants of the building may then safely escape by way of the ladder.

I have shown the ladder as used for a fireescape, a use for which it is chiefly intended; but one of the sections may be used as a ships ladder or companion way, if desired, and a necessary number of sections may be suspended from the cross-trees of a vessels mast, thus affording a convenient means for going aloft.

I do not confine myself to the exact means shown of attaching the supporting-rods B to the rungs, as they may be attached in any convenient way; but care should be taken that the supports run easily through the outer or end holes in the adjoining rungs, and pass by and clear the end of the third rung from the one to which they are secured, so that when the ladder is thrown from a window or the hooks and collapsing ropes are released, in case it. is permanently suspended from a building, the rungs will easily drop to place of their own weight.

Having thus described, my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a fire-escape, the combination, with the collapsible ladder, of sleeves mounted on the rungs of the ladder, said sleeves being connected, as shown, and provided with inwardly-extending arms, and means for holding the sleeves in a fixed position, substantially as described.

2. A fire-escape comprising a window-bar adapted to extend across a window-frame, a series of rungs suspended from the windowbar, said rungs being slidably connected together by rods, as shown, and hooks attached to the lower rung-supports and adapted to engage staples on the window-bar, substantially as described.

3. In a fire-escape, the collapsible ladder comprisin two rungs rigidly connected and a series of graduated rungs suspended from the lower of the connected rungs, said rungs having rods fixed to the ends so as to extend through holes of the adjacent rungs, and ropes extending through a keeper on the upper rung, the upper ends of the ropes being attached to the lower rungs of the ladder, substantially as described.

4. A fire-escape comprising a window-bar adapted to extend across the window-frame and a collapsible ladder suspended from the window and consisting of two upper rungs rigidly connected and a series of graduated rungs having supporting-rods attached to the ends and extending through holes in the adjacent rungs, and braces mounted upon the rungs and provided with inwardly-extending arms, substantially as described.

5. In a fire-escape, the combination, with the collapsible ladder of the character described, of the cross-bar fixed to the wall of the building, and the ladder suspended from the cross-bar and fixed to one end of the collapsible ladder, substantially as described.

ROBERT M. YORKS.

W itnesses: I

O. P. KRAEMER, F. W. GRAME. 

